Cancer breeds cancer

Ever since her birth, Pakistan has been suffering from various sorts of cancer at the national level. There has been political cancer. There has been economic cancer. There has been corruption cancer. There has been poverty cancer so on and so on. Imran Khan has established the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital. We desperately need a political hospital where various sorts of national cancers could be effectively treated. Only a supreme leader can establish such a hospital. But unfortunately, nature has not been generous enough to gift us such a leader. Let's discuss some of our national cancers. Generally, our politicians don't trust their motherland. This distrust forces them to keep their oceanfuls of wealth abroad. The motherland keeps looking miserably at her sons. The sons keep laughing at the mother's emotional stupidity. What a heart-breaking national cancer Extreme poverty is another national cancer. There is something mysterious about this cancer. As the masses grow poorer and poorer, our politics grows richer and richer. If the masses were to stop growing poorer, it would become impossible for our politics to grow richer. In such circumstances, our politics would have only two options: Either to commit suicide or adopt some other profession. Here is another cancer. Almost every national institution is at war with some other institution. These wars are destroying the very foundations of the country. Here is another cancer. Pakistan's sovereignty is being crushed by the drones. Our government has told America to stop using drones, otherwise the Pak-America relations could collapse. How funny If America were to stop using the drones, the drones would become redundant. The redundancy would infuriate the drones. Can America afford to infuriate its drones? As for the Pak-America relations, if America were to lose the relations, she would be rid of a cancer-ridden country's friendship. And what a marvellous riddance it would be During her recent visit to Pakistan, American Secretary of State Hillary did not utter even a single pleasant word about Pakistan. When her husband Mr Clinton was America's President, he disliked Pakistan. It seems that he has injected his dislike into his spouse. Hillary's visit to Pakistan has been as painful to the common Pakistani as a cobra's bite. It is another variety of our political cancer. America has enslaved us. Our American slavery is just another national cancer. Whether America has enslaved us on a temporary or a permanent basis is a horrific secret. Anyway, it does smell of a very strong cancer. Here is another cancer. Our leaders love begging at the international level. They detest self-reliance. They have developed a begging technology, which is far more advanced than America's space technology. The leaders love begging. But for the masses, begging is a national cancer. Our national corruption is another cancer. This cancer has been killing the masses and pouring phenomenal prosperity into the influential Pakistanis' bottomless pockets. As already mentioned, Pakistan has been living with various sorts of cancer since her birth. However, lately it has been hit by an extremely rare sort of cancer. It may be called "May 2, Abbottabad Cancer." This cancer is the result of the ignorance of the Pakistani security services about America's activities in the region. What a canceric ignorance Every country has numerous administrative systems. It has a legal system. It has a police system. It has a bureaucratic system. It has an income tax system etc, etc. The political system of a country is the mother of all its other systems. If the mother is healthy, all the other systems are bound to be healthy. But if the mother is cancer-ridden, it must give birth to cancer-ridden systems. Politically, Pakistan has been extremely chaotic. No wonder, all its other systems have also been chaotic. Our salvation lies only in a healthy political system. But only an extremely healthy leadership can give us an extremely healthy political system. How to get such a leadership? Let's keep praying and praying and praying till God pities us and gifts us a supreme leadership. n The writer is an academic.